Book Review Why Are We Still Doing That? by Pérsida & William Himmele
Review by Joe Mullikin
Click the cover to view on ASCD.
Take a moment to think about why you chose to become an educator. Was it because of an impactful teacher that you had as a student or was it the connection and passion that you had for a specific subject? For many, it may be the desire to see young people learn and grow both as students and as individuals. Now think about where you are at right now. Does your day-to-day instruction and practice align with the reason why you entered into education? Do you find yourself stuck in, what can become, a monotonous routine with unengaged or disconnected students? At some point in each of our careers, we’ve all been in this place and we reach a critical point where
we either make the decision to change or we stick with the seven most dangerous words in education; “that’s the way we’ve always done it”. As we begin to move beyond the previous two years of disjointed, abnormal, and reactive teaching and schooling, now becomes the best time for us to collectively review the practices and pedagogy within our classrooms, buildings, and districts. Persida and William Himmele’s book Why are we still doing that? Positive alternatives to problematic teaching practices provides a foundation for educators to do just that. Identifying problematic 21
